December 12, 2018

SVSU students’ preparation pays off, team qualifies for moot court national tournament

Since Saginaw Valley State University's moot court program was established in 2010, SVSU never has failed to qualify competitors for the nation's most elite tournament.

Thanks to countless hours of preparation preparing for and rehearsing oral arguments, SVSU students have earned another impressive showing, and that streak will continue for a ninth consecutive year in 2019.

SVSU students Lindsey Mead and Justin Weller will advance as a team to the American Moot Court Association national tournament Jan. 12-13 at Florida A&M College of Law in Orlando. Mead will make her second consecutive appearance in the annual contest, which features 120 of the nation's best undergraduate moot court competitors.

Acting as teams of two attorneys, students competing in moot court tournament are tasked with arguing two hypothetical legal cases based on real-life courtroom battles. The competition is judged based on the clarity of the students' argument, their public speaking skills, their ability to answer questions, and how well they know the law and the case.

The SVSU moot court program has excelled in those categories since their inception. Julie Keil, SVSU associate professor of political science, has served as the team’s adviser for all nine years; today she is joined by Amy Hendrickson, SVSU associate professor of law

SVSU students have competed well over the years, and SVSU consistently has been ranked among the nation’s elite programs. Its current ranking by the American Moot Court Association at No. 19 is its highest yet, ahead of larger institutions such as Texas A&M University (ranked no. 21) and University of Louisville (No. 23). Last year, SVSU ranked No. 24 out of the more than 425 higher education institutions that fielded teams for the American Moot Court Association.

Mead, an English major from Saginaw, and Weller, a political science major from Bay City, earned their invitation to the 2019 national tournament based on the strength of their performance at a regional American Moot Court Association tournament hosted by SVSU in November. The pair advanced to the semifinal round, finishing third in a competition featuring 46 teams from 11 colleges and universities.

Three other SVSU teams finished among the top 16 teams at the SVSU-hosted tournament. Those teams featured the duos of Justine Brabaw, a political science major from Breckenridge, and Erik Byron, a political science major from Birch Run; Joshua Cianek, a political science major from Auburn, and Lauren Legner, a psychology major from Bay City; and Ted Meckley, a political science major from Saginaw, and Porche Spiller, a sociology major from Saginaw.